Die.



J. 0. SMITH.

DIE. APPLICATION FILED JUNBG, 1910.

1,087,196. I Patented Feb. 17,1914.

W/T/VESSESL 1 //vv/\/ mm m QM UNITED STATES PATENT @FFIQE.

JOHN C. SMITH, OF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOB, TO UNITED SHOEMACHINERY COMPANY, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

DIE.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

?atented Feb. 1?, 1914.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN C. SMITH, a citizenof the United States, residing at Lynn, in the county of Essex and Stateof lvI-assachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Dies, ofwhich the following description, in oonnectionwvith the accompanyingdrawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the drawingsindicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to dies which are used for dieing out blanks ofsheet material such as upper leather for boots and shoes. 7

More particularly the invention relates to the class of dies used withclicking presses and contemplates a novel construction of die andsupplementary cutting, ornamenting or marking. member for dieing out ablank and simultaneously performing a secondary operation thereon.

The preferred type of clicking press die comprises an open frame havingoppositely disposed pressure receiving and cutting edges. Such a diecovers little of the blank about to be died out and so affords thecutter an unobstructed view of the stock, enabling him to inspect itcritically and place the die so as to avoid imperfections or weak placestherein. 7

It is, accordingly, an important object of the present invention toprovide novel means for mounting in a die of this type a supplementarymember for performing a secondary operation on the blanks died outthereby.

Another object of the invention is to provide a mounting for asupplementary member such that the latter may be detached easily andquickly from the die with which it is to be used, in order that unmarkedor unperforated blanks may he died out or another supplementary memberof different design may be substituted in changing from cutting blanksfor one style of shoe to another.

In this connection, an important feature of the invention consists in soarranging the members which connect the die and supplementary memberthat, on the removal of the latter, the center of the die is leftsubstantially open and unobstructed. In addition to afl'ording thecutter opportunity to inspect the stock this construction permits widevariation in the shape and size of the supplementary members which maybe used interchangeablyv with one die or with different dies. Preferablythe connecting members may extend, wholly or in part, flush with thepressure receiving surface of the die, thus supplying additional areafor receiving the pressure necessary to force the die through the stock.

Another feature of the invention relates more particularly to theconstruction of the die itself and consists in forming slit-ting bladeswithin the outline thereof which may be arranged in such relation to thesupplementary member as to cooperate therewith in forming an ornamentalor other design on or in the blank. This feature of the invention may beembodied to a good advantage in a novel die for cutting sandal Vamps.

I-Ieretofore it has been the practice to die out the marginal edges ofVamps for sandals, then out the desired ornamental perforations and thetongue by hand and afterward sew the tongue to the vamp. In accordancewith the present invention, however, it is proposed to construct a diehaving its cutting edges shaped to die out not only the marginal edgesof a vamp but also the throat and tongue thereof. The slitting bladesabove referred to may be arranged to operate on the tongue portion ofthe blank and a supplementary perforating member giay be mounted in thetoe portion of the The invention is herein shown as embodied in thecombination of a die and a supplementary member for cutting anornamental design in the blank died out, although it will be apparentthat the invention contemplates other forms of supplementary member, forexample, a member for embossing or creasing a design on the blanks orfor forming lines of perforations therein. The invention, however, willbe best understood and appreciated from the following description inconnection with the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a viewinperspective of a die in an inverted position, for cutting sandal Vampswith a supplementary member for forming an ornamental design therein.Fig. 2 is a sectional View on the plane 22 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a viewin perspective of a supplementary die of a difierent design from thatshown in Fig. 1. Fig. 4: is a View in perspective of a portion of aclicking press showing the die in position on a skin.

The die shown in Fig. 1 is intended for dieing out vamps having anintegrally formed tongue and an ornamental perforated design cut in thetoe portion. I-Ieretofore it has been the practice to stitch a tongue tothe inner transverse edge of the throat of the vamp. By the use of thedie herein shown, however, the operations of cutting and stitching thetongue are obviated and the complete blank is formed at a singleoperation. To this end the die comprises an open frame 12 correspondingin shape with the marginal contour of a vamp and having one edge 18sharpened to form a continuous cutting edge and the other flattened toform a pressure receiving surface 1 1. This die has a reentrant portion15 for cutting the throat of the vamp, having a cutting edge extendingcontinuously with the cutting edge of the marginal portions and aloop-shaped connecting portion 16, which, for convenience, may be termedcounter-reentrant, for cutting the tongue of the sandal.

The tongue cutting portion 16 extends back toward the rear of the dieand rigidly secured between its sides at suitable points are blocks 18on which are formed, or otherwise rigidly mounted, parallel slittingblades 19. The blades 19 serve to cut parallel slits in the tonguethrough which cross straps may extend in the finished shoe. Thereentrant portions 15 which cut out the edges of the throat are providedat oppositely disposed points with offset portions 17 which formprojecting ears on the sides of the throat to which the cross straps maybe attached.

The die herein illustrated is shown as provided with a supplementarymember for forming ornamental perforations in the toe portion of thevamp simultaneously with the dieing-out operation. In this embodiment ofthe invention the supplementary member may comprise a plate 20 in whichare inserted the small dies 22 with their cutting edges substantially inthe plane of the cutting edge of the main die as will be clearly seenin 1. Transversely extending lugs 24 are rigidly attached to the plate20 and are provided with sockets to engage dowel pins 26 which projectvertically from lugs 28 extending from the inner sides of the die. Itwill be seen that the supplementary member may be detached from the diesimply by lifting the lugs 24 out of engagement with the dowel pins 26,the center of the die then being unobstructed except for the lugs 28which will cover a very inconsiderable part of the stock. The plate 20is perforated to permit the passage of the punchings out out by the dies22 and the construction is such that when the supplementary die is inoperative position, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the upper surface of theplate 20 lies in the plane of the pressure receiving edge 14 of the dieand thus forms an independent pressure receiving surface for thesupplementary die. Other supplementary mem bers of various designs maybe inserted in place of that illustrated in Fig. 1, it being necessaryonly that such members should be provided with sockets which willregister with the pins 26. A supplementary member adapted to cut adifferent ornamental de sign is shown in Fig. 3, in which the plate 30is perforated to receive five small dies 32 and is provided withtransverse lugs'S-iin which are formed sockets for the reception of thepins 26. The small dies 22 may be constructed in any preferred manner,as for example, by being out out of a solid block or they may beconstructed of strip material, being bent into shape and welded.

The die hereinabove described may be e1nployed advantageously in aclicking press of the type described in Letters Patent of the UnitedStates No. 921,503 granted to Arthur Bates May 11, 1909, parts of whichare shown in Fig. 4. In that machine there is provided a cutting block42 above which is mounted an arm 4: 1 which may be swung over a dieafter the latter has been properly located on a skin placed on thecutting block. After the arm 44 has been brought to a po sitionvertically over the die a depression of the handle 46 by the operatorcauses the arm to descend upon the pressure receiving surfaces of thedie and supplementary die and force them through the skin thus forming acomplete blank at a single operation.

It will be seen that by employing dies constructed in accordance withthe present invention one or two supplementary dies will serve for acomplete set of vamp dies and thus the expense of constructing a largenumber of dies of intricate design is avoided.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. A die comprising anopen frame having one edge sharpened for cutting and an oppositelydisposed pressure receiving edge, in combination with a supplementarymember for operating on the blank cut by the die, intermediateconnecting members extending from points on the sides of the die topoints on opposite sides of said supplementary member, and a separableconnection in each of said connecting members.

2. A die for cutting sheet material, having an outer cutting port-ionshaped to correspond with the marginal edges of a vamp, and a reentrantthroat cutting portion having offsets formed in its cutting edge atoppositely disposed points to form projecting ears on the blank forcross straps.

3. A die for cutting sheet material, having a cutting edge shaped to cutthe outer marginal edges of a vamp, a reentrant cute ting portion forcutting the throat of the vamp, and a counter-rentrant cutting portionbeing disposed between the sides of the rentrant portion and for forminga tongue integral with the vamp, said latter portion having mountedtherein blades for slitting the tongue.

4:. A die for cutting and ornamenting sandal Vamps having an outermarginal cutting edge, a reentrant portion having a cutting edgecontinuous therewith, a counter-reentrant portion having a cutting edgecontinuous with the edge of said reentrant portion, slitting bladesmounted in said counter-reentrant portion and a supplementaryperforating member maintained in rigid relation therewith.

5. A die for Vamps having portions shaped to cut the marginal edges of avamp, cutting portions extending continuously therewith for cutting atongue as an integral part of the vamp, and means for slitting thetongue simultaneously with therdieing out operation.

6. A die for cutting sheet material having intermediate membersprojecting toward each other leaving a space between adjacent facesthereof, in combination with a blank ornamenting die having a pressurereceiving surface independent of the first mentioned die, and means forremovably mounting said ornamenting die in the space between saidintermediate members.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.-

JOHN C. SMITH.

Witnesses:

HERBERT W. KENWAY, FREDERICK L. EDMANDS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 1,087,196, grantedFebruary 17, 1914, upon the application of John C. Smith, of Lynn,Massachusetts, for an improvement in Dies, errors appear in the printedspecification requiring correction as follows: Page 3, lines 3- 1,strike out the words being disposed between the sides of the rentrantportion and; same page, line 5, as now numbered, after the word portioninsert the words being disposed between the sides of the reentrantportion and; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with thesecorrections therein that the same may conform to the record of the casein the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 9th day of June, A. D., 1914.

J. T. NEWTON, Acting Commissioner of Patents.

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